More than 100 people participated in a walk from the Montauk Lighthouse to Hampton Bays on Saturday, raising more than $5,000 for Organizacion Latino Americana of Eastern Long Island, the nonprofit advocacy organization known as OLA.
Called the “March March,” it drew participants between the ages of 1 and 92, said Anita Boyer, one of its organizers, with marchers connecting with the concurrent No Kings rallies outside East Hampton Town Hall and at Agawam Park in Southampton Village on their way to Hampton Bays.
While the No Kings rallies that took place on the South Fork and across the United States were to protest Trump administration policies, including the war against Iran as well as its efforts to detain and deport immigrants, the goal of the March March was to support immigrants while maintaining scrutiny of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions on the East End.
OLA has launched a rapid-response network, Operation Stand and Protect, which provides access to “an active cohort of local volunteers who are ready to witness, engage, and act swiftly and peacefully to document ICE activities,” according to an announcement of the network’s formation in June 2025.
Saturday’s march started at 5:08 a.m. at the Lighthouse, with participants joining along the roughly 40-mile route. At one point, Lukas Ventouras, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Representative Nick LaLota in New York’s First Congressional District, joined the marchers.
Two counterprotesters, wearing “Make America Great Again” hats, filmed the rally, the crowd largely ignoring them, Ms. Boyer said.
Those who had registered in advance were given T-shirts to which they added names to honor those for whom they marched. Ms. Boyer and her husband, Joe Pallister, both of Hampton Bays, marched for Leon Goodman, who they said inspired the event with his 2020 walk from Manhattan to Montauk in support of Black Lives Matter.
“With so many moving parts, groups to coordinate, a tight schedule to keep, and walking myself, I could not be happier with the turnout and results of the action,” Ms. Boyer said in a statement after the march. “Connecting the South Fork No Kings rallies was a highlight for me, as well as seeing so many people come out to support.”
